Day: October 19, 2016

Whatever you think it’s going to be, Oh, Hello on Broadway is even better than that. What began perhaps as a goof a decade ago between two young friends in comedy has, all these years later, majestically hit the Broadway stage this fall as a fully thought-out legit stage production, a two-man tour de farce for Nick Kroll and John Mulaney. Parodies of plays and musicals along “The Great White Way” have arrived aplenty over the past generation, from Noises Off to Forbidden Broadway all the way to today’s contemporary meta musical, Something Rotten! As Gil Faizon (Kroll) and...

In just its opening weekend, Kevin Hart‘s third concert film already has beaten both the box-office debut of his previous stand-up film, 2013’s Let Me Explain, as well as the overall haul from his first such effort, 2011’s Laugh at My Pain. What Now? Indeed. With $12.6 million and counting in movie ticket grosses, Hart’s new 96 minutes of footage (some 70 minutes of stand-up, bookended with sketches imagining Hart with a semi-secret life as a spy) does address the central question that titled both his tour and the film, namely, “What now?” At the movie’s close, Hart sits...

How selfish could Vivendi and StudioCanal be over the profits from 32 years of This Is Spinal Tap? The answer is none. None more selfish. Harry Shearer, who created the fictional yet real metal band Spinal Tap alongside comedians Christopher Guest and Michael McKean, then brought it to life with director Rob Reiner for a TV special, 1984 mockumentary, albums and actual concert tours, filed a lawsuit this week in federal court in Los Angeles, seeking $125 million in damages for unshared profits from Vivendi and its subsidiary, StudioCanal. McKean and Reiner backed Shearer with their support Tuesday on...